The Only Girl
by Ali-Chan1
Summary: But he was Chuck and she was Blair and maybe, just maybe they deserved a chance. *Oneshot*


Just a short little note. This was written for Mirage for Christmas, so Merry Christmas darling! And Happy New Year to everyone!!

**The Only Girl **

She would forever be the only girl who loved him. She deserved better. The girl who held him when he realized that he was an orphan. The one who let him go when that realization was too much to bare. She was the only person who had ever fully accepted his actions for who he was.

_Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I'm yours._

_I...I_

_Thank you. That's all I needed to hear._

He had known that day, so long ago, even as he'd been unable to form the words, that she was the only girl he could ever love. In the ten years since he'd laid in her bed, her arms wrapped protectively around him no one had been able to come close. The same mindless string of girls marched in and out of his life. Interrupted only by the occasional marriage.

He'd been married three times and she had never been. All of his marriages began the same way. Two celebutants and the daughter of a foreign business mogul. The blonde, always blond, was always looking for the same things: a huge publicized wedding and his growing bank account. They all ended the same way too. His _wife_'s infidelity plastered all over the tabloids successfully voiding any pre-nuptial agreement and he walked away with the family business and millions.

She frequented the cover of as many magazines as his did. His the cover of _Forbes_ and the like, hers in the same vein as _People_. For this he was grateful to the ever prying press. It kept him informed of her every move without having to stoop to his father's fatal reliance on a private investigator. He was known for his cut throat business tactics. She mostly for her charitable contributions. He'd heard the rumors that assured him that she was still has ruthless as she had ever been.

She was still the same girl he would forever love.

And now she was going to marry someone else.

He'd always known this day would come. Since she had walked away to be with Marcus he'd known that he would, one day, have to live through her marrying someone else. She deserved the big white wedding with a man waiting for her at the end of the aisle that wouldn't hurt her.

Her wedding had been the topic of all the magazines. She was marrying the grown-up version of Nate Archibald. He was strong, steady – he would take care of her but he would never fully understand her. He would never understand that when she fell silent she wasn't trying to figure out how to cure world hunger one lavish benefit at a time. Her silence meant she was plotting – something that could and would probably hurt whoever was in her way. What that man, the one who would be her husband, would never understand was that her actions were not a childish whim to get her what she wanted. It was a scheme to protect those that she held closest.

He would be able to take care of her but he would never fully understand her.

She deserved someone who understood her and accepted her.

You are **not **my girlfriend.

But I **am** me. And you're you. We're Chuck and Blair. Blair and Chuck. The worst thing you've ever done. The darkest thought you've ever had. I will stand by you through anything.

_Why would you do that?_

Because I love you.

She'd always been smarter then he was. Understood things he was too cynical to see directly in front of him. He'd spent the last decade avoiding dwelling on those last 48 hours. Convincing himself that she deserved better then him had been the hardest thing he had ever done. Refusing to understand the last thing she had ever said to him had been the easiest.

She saw beyond his faults – shortcomings his own father hadn't been able to love him despite of. She saw them and instead of disregarding them she embraced them.

She would forever be the only girl who loved him and in exactly twenty-three minutes she was going to marry a man who didn't deserve her. It would take thirty minutes to get to the church. Even if he could make it before she said _I do_ would it even matter?

Those things she'd said had been a long time ago.

But he was Chuck and she was Blair and maybe, just maybe they deserved a chance. Maybe he really deserved more then to pine over the only girl to love him.

It takes twenty-four minutes to reach the church – the hundred dollar bills he kept flinging at the driver had obviously proved to be adequate motivation but would he be too late?

As he moved up the stairs to the church he can hear the traditional wedding march and briefly wonders how near to the front of the she church is. When he flings open the heavy wooden door it makes a satisfyingly dramatic thud and he's acutely aware of all but one pair of eyes on him.

Over hundreds of faces he finds Serena at the front and swears he sees the makings of a smile hidden under her shocked expression. This should be an encouraging sign but his gaze moves to Blair who has paused half way down the aisle, on her father's arm, the only one who hasn't turned.

He lets himself hope, to take this as a good sign. Had she hoped he'd come? Was she afraid of what she'd find if she turned around now?

"Blair."

It's not loud enough to carry through the entire church but he knows she's heard him. She moves slowly but eventually their eyes connect across the twenty feet between them.

"I love you." This wasn't the time for a long speech. They were in a now or never situation. She was either still the only girl who had ever loved him or she would be the one to walk away for the very last time.

She doesn't pause or falter. She doesn't stop to consider to that there are hundreds of people present to watch her marry someone else.

She drops her father's arm and then she's in his. Within seconds he's kissing her, his Blair in a wedding dress meant for another groom. She doesn't care that there are people watching and when it came to other people he had never cared.

She would forever be the only girl who loved him and he would be the only boy who understood her.

Because he was Chuck and she was Blair and they would stand together through anything.


End file.
